A Driftless Cheese Champion

Some say the Driftless Area is a well-kept secret. But that’s something Executive Chef Luke Zahm, owner of the Driftless Café in Viroqua and new venture The Owl Farm, and the host of television’s Wisconsin Foodie, is working to change.

Executive Chef Luke Zahm

“The café was started with the intention of it being the authority on local food, beverage and service,” says Luke. “I wanted to spotlight our region’s local farmers and food producers.” The majority of the café’s budget, 72%, is spent in a 90-mile radius of the restaurant—a stat Luke is proud of.

“Local cheese is a medium we can use to tell a story,” Luke explains. “It allows us to converse about who we are as food artisans, cheesemakers, and farmers and, hopefully, grow an awareness of the Midwest that differs from the version that many people have.”

For Luke, the Driftless provides inspiration and delectable fodder for his locally sourced menu, which includes a cheese plate with rotating cheeses like Carr Valley Creama Kasa®, Roelli Red Rock, Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Hook’s Blue Paradise, as well as other specialty cheeses from Wisconsin like BelGioioso’s Fresh Mozzarella. Wood-fired pizzas featuring unique cheeses like Carr Valley Glacier Penta Crème™ are also popular customer favorites.

“You throw me in a cheese shop, and I’m a kid in a candy store,” shares Luke. “It’s an opportunity to play with different textures and styles, and inevitably I come across a unique cheese that helps to shape the menu.”

And living in the Driftless supplies Luke with an almost endless supply of delicious muses. “Sid Cook of Carr Valley Cheese is the most-awarded cheesemaker in North America. He’s the Willy Wonka of cheesemaking, and he’s here in this quiet pocket of Wisconsin,” Luke says excitedly.

“ Pleasant Ridge Reserve is always a staple…and I know people are taken aback whenever we put any of Chris Roelli’s cheeses on our cheese board. Then there’s Roth Cheese Their Grand Cru® Surchoix was crowned World Champion in the 2016 World Championship Cheese Contest. As a Wisconsin chef, that’s such a point of swagger.”